SYDNEY, January 24. /TASS/. Russian tennis players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider failed on Friday to advance to the final of the 2025 Australian Open in women’s doubles.
In a tough semifinal match, the duo of Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the United States defeated the Russians, who play under a neutral status at the tournament, 6-7 (4-7); 6-4; 6-3.
The tournament’s official website quoted Siniakova as saying after the match: "Definitely the game style we have suits each other. Leftie, rightie is also helpful. The chemistry on and off the court is also really good so I think it’s a combination of everything."
Siniakova’s partner Townsend added: "One of the things I can say with full confidence is we’re playing better as a team over the last couple of weeks than we were doing a couple of months ago."
In the final match of this year’s opening Grand Slam series tournament in Australia, Siniakova/Townsend will play against the pair of Hsieh Su-wei from Taiwan and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko.
Andreeva, 17, is currently ranked 15th in the WTA (the Women's Tennis Association) Rankings. Her best result playing at the Grand Slam series was reaching the semifinals of the 2024 French Open. She has one WTA title so far in her career and also won a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in women's doubles. In 2023, the WTA named Andreeva the rookie of the year. She is 51st in the WTA Doubles Rankings.
Shnaider is 20 years old, and is currently ranked 13th in the Women Tennis Association (WTA) Rankings. Shnaider has four WTA titles to her name, winning all of them during the last year’s season. Her best result playing at the Grand Slam series tournaments was advancing to Round 4 of the 2024 US Open. Playing at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, she won a silver medal in women’s doubles with partner Mirra Andreeva. Shanider is 36th in the WTA Doubles Rankings.
The 2025 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park on January 12-26 and has a purse of $59.7 million in prize money up for grabs. The season’s first Grand Slam, this year marks the 113th edition of the tournament. The pair of Hsieh Su-wei from Taiwan and Belgium’s Elise Mertens are the reigning Australian Open champions in women’s doubles.
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.
On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
However, the Women Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.